Since we didn’t have any real supplies in the house and it was 7pm by the time Scott got out of the gym we decided to skip making dinner and just go out. On our way out we picked up Miah and went to Olde Peninsula. After our meal, and some rather dull cider (which was not their fault, but was a matter of trying something new that flopped) we decided to go see a movie. The movie Bridesmaids was playing at Rave and we all were able to catch it at the student rate, which is $5 per person.

We got to the theater and found seats, the previews came on and they were mostly forgettable. Then the movie started. On the whole the movie Bridesmaids has some very funny and touching moments, but underneath those moments there is a undercurrent of depression. Along with that darkness there is also a kind of black dread that fogs the movie, all the characters are like velveteen rabbits that have been soiled and left in a dumpster to be pecked to pieces by wildlife. It appears as though a movie these days cannot be considered hilarious unless the actors make complete social buffoons of themselves. Many of the sequences felt like elaborate jokes where the writers wanted to set-up the characters like dominoes and tip one over and watch the entire set collapse for the merriment of the audience. To make any of this believable you have to imagine that the people in this movie are at best contrived playthings and at worst, caricatures of truly horrible broken human beings. I laughed at many of the situations depicted in the movie, but afterwards I felt bad about what I laughed at. It felt a lot like standing in a mob and laughing at some poor wounded creature that was struggling for the side of the road so it wouldn’t be run over again. Nobody could put this movie out of it’s misery and so we had to sit through it. While I laughed at parts of this movie, I felt like I had been fleeced. The $5 per ticket price was actually too high for a movie as reprehensible as this one. The primary engine of “Bridesmaids” is the comedy of misery and it leaves you less of a person after you see it than you were when you walked in. The only saving grace is that the movie was a contrivance, that the actors really aren’t this way, that people aren’t trapped in misery that deep.

Bridesmaids is connected to Apatow, and so was The Anchorman, which had a very similar feel. Both movies are soiled productions that rely on the most piquant social awkwardness possible to jam the audience into a very uncomfortable position and then whip a gag out on them to make them laugh. People come away smiling and laughing but also hurt in the exchange.

After watching Bridesmaids, I am done with Mr. Judd Apatow. Much like I am done with “The Anchorman” Will Ferrell. I will not see any other movies with either of their names on it. I’m tired of being entertained in one move and abused in another.

Bridesmaids, Zero out of Ten Stars.

Family Recommendation: Avoid at all costs. Do not view, stream, or rent.